Throughout most of the NBA preseason, the Portland Trail Blazers didn’t necessarily encounter high-level competition.
The Golden State Warriors left most of their rotation at home in Portland's preseason opener. The London Lions are a competent club — winning the 2025-26 Super League Basketball championship — but only one of their players has NBA experience. And the Sacramento Kings are, well, the Sacramento Kings.
There’s not much to glean from playing an underwhelming opposition, making it rather difficult to overreact and dispense some hot takes, which I’ve personally been dying to do. But we were fed a bone at the end, as Portland traveled to San Francisco to face a Warriors team flooring a probable regular-season rotation.
And the Blazers didn’t look great.
There were some decent individual performances, particularly from Damian Lillard and Ja Morant, but as a whole, Portland looked far from a team that’s ready to ascend out of the NBA Play-In Tournament. The Blazers struggled to rebound, hit timely shots from beyond the arc, create fast-break opportunities and match the Warriors’ bench production.
They trailed by as much as 25 points, allowed a 17-2 run in the first quarter and were stymied by foul trouble. Portland entered the penalty less than three minutes into the fourth quarter.
Remember, however, that October is not the time for provocative opinions. That’s more of a November thing. But there was some stuff that stood out when rewatching the first half in my office (if you think a spare bedroom with a desk qualifies as so) this past weekend.
Some good. Some bad. Let’s dive in.
Toumani madness
He’s the type of guy coaches like Tom Thibodeau and Larry Brown dream about. His defensive aptitude and versatility allows more offensive-orientated teammates to cover a weaker assignment and preserve their energy for buckets. Toumani Camara is a necessary archetype for any team with championship aspirations.
A legitimate three-and-D threat, Camara earned his stripes in the 2024-25 campaign as he landed on the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. He’s a career 36.7 percent 3-point shooter, registering a 37.5 percent clip two seasons ago and a 37 percent rate last year.
Camara set an NBA regular season record with 105 offensive fouls drawn last season, and he led the league in total forced turnovers (steals plus offensive fouls drawn) at 164. He fits the (often overused) description of “dog” perfectly, defending the opposing teams’ best player and constantly mucking up their rhythm and flow on offense.
The clip below is an easy example of Camara’s ability to halt offenses. It’s nothing cute, but it shows a facet he’s very skilled at: collapsing and clogging the lane, and then actually being able to recover to his man.
And yes, Draymond Green is not, especially at 36, an incredibly athletic driver, but he can be a lethal one. Green is almost never really looking to score himself. He’s looking for the kick to a corner three or dump to the dunker’s spot, so he’s still dangerous. When slowed down, it’s clear he has a slight angle on Camara.
But it’s a narrow window, one that Green can’t capitalize on, so he tries to initiate the contact and attempt to draw a foul. Camara doesn’t bite. Green reacts to contact he thinks is coming, and instead loses control of the ball.
Moving along, Camara was extremely effective at drawing moving screen fouls against the Warriors. A troll may argue that Golden State was the primary reason the league has issued two-handed screens as “points of emphasis” and an “area of focus” but I don’t live under a bridge, so I wouldn’t know. However, it’s still the Warriors, so off rip they receive very lenient officiating — comparatively, at least — in that department, meaning one has to work extra hard to trigger that whistle.
Al Horford isn’t too egregious with his hands at first in the following example, but he does use his body and thrust his hips like me trying to close the fridge with my hands full. Camara makes the correct initial read — based on his positioning alone it probably would’ve taken longer to follow rookie Yaxel Lendeborg, a 37.2 percent 3-point shooter at Michigan last year, under the screen, namely if Horford decides to push Yang Hansen further into the restricted area and use him to block Camara’s path.
The key is that Camara earnestly fights over each screen. He doesn’t try to avoid contact. There’s no way to draw a moving screen if you do, obviously. Once he recovers on Lendeborg, he’s tight and forces him middle, so tight that he can easily fight over the second screen. Lendeborg pulls back, Camara recovers and challenges a third Horford screen. The 40-year-old big-man definitely gets too touchy, but Camara does his part and embellishes just enough to force the ref to make the call.
The next two clips are spliced together. Camara draws an offensive foul first against Gary Payton II setting a pick for Stephen Curry and then on Green trying to free up Lendeborg. I really don’t think it can be understated how much favor he gains by meeting the contact head-on. Lots of dudes don’t like taking bumps on defense. The ones willing are often rewarded.
A final note on Camara, though not a novel one: he is relentless. I loved this sequence in the final minute of the first half. He misses an open corner 3-pointer — arguably the easiest shot in all of basketball — making him 1-for-3 on the night, and instead of taking a moment to mope and trot back in frustration, he hauls (expletive) to get back and contest Lendeborg at the rim. It’s the freaking preseason for crying out loud. He didn’t need to do that, but if there’s a stop to be made, he seemingly can’t help himself.
Rebounding woes
Alright, it’s time to get negative.
The Blazers have been mediocre crashing the glass, delivering a middling effort in the preseason. The team allowed plenty of offensive rebounds and haven’t hunted boards with the requisite spirit needed from an undersized team.
“We need to f****** rebound,” Robert Williams III said.
“I think that rebounding is always effort,” head coach Micah Nori added. “Some of these things, it's more so helping each other rebound. And like the way we play defense, the way a lot of teams defend now, is they're asking bigs (to) protect rim and contest shots. So, now that means that late (in the shot clock) down here by the rim, you're going to have some smalls on some bigs, and it just becomes a mismatch in size. I think what Rob is saying is that we all need to help rebound, not necessarily just go and get it, but if you see the smalls on a five-man, they need all the help we can get. And we just work too hard to get stops.”
Nori isn’t wrong; there were plenty of times in the preseason where the Blazers' size was exposed and the likes of Lillard, Scoot and Morant were left alone to contend against guys many times their size.
Those are moments you have to live with, but many of the Blazers’ rebounding woes against the Warriors were self-inflicted, or at least manufactured in instances that should’ve been in Portland’s control. There’s little excuse for being outrebounded by a smaller player. There’s even less when the Blazers outnumber the opposition in the paint and are still beaten to the ball.
After the Blazers' first preseason game, Nori was clearly frustrated by Portland's inability to prevent offensive rebounds and limit turnovers. They create extra possessions for the other team, and in the NBA, a team could play stalwart defense or have an efficient shooting night and still come out on the losing side.
If the Blazers are idle, it's going to be a long night. Ignoring the rather poor transition defense in the first clip, Donovan Clingan offers little resistance against Charles Bassey and is in poor position by the time the ball hits the rim. Lillard provides some coverage, but Georges Niang, ultimately, gets another look from deep.
He misses again, though the offensive possession is kept alive by a dashing 38-year-old, 6-foot-2 Curry who beats Clingan and Deni Avdija to the spot. The second clip doesn’t end in an offensive rebound for the Warriors. However, they do get yet another crack at it, since the Blazers cannot grasp the loose ball to save their lives.
The final clip technically features a Portland defensive rebound. Poor rebounding mechanics (keep the ball chin level!) result in another second-chance opportunity. Losing the possession battle is simply an enormous feat to overcome. Almost everything else has to be perfect if you do. Portland cannot rely on perfection. No team can.
Far from a finished product
I’ll try and keep this section short, because I don’t want to overly rag on Hansen, who’s been an overall pleasant surprise this preseason. The second-year Chinese product appears to be done showing mere flashes — he hasn’t entirely arrived, but we’re beginning to enter a phase where we’ve gone from enjoying the idea of Hansen to the reality of Hansen.
All training camp Nori was complimentary regarding Hansen and his development. It hasn’t been just words, either, as Nori decided to “play through him as the hub” during his minutes in the first preseason game.
The 7-foot-1, 270-pound big-man appears to be a lock as the third center off the bench ahead of Micah Potter and Branden Carlson. He outperformed them during the prep stretch and saw more floor time than either one.
His offense is OK. There’s no real concern there for what’s being asked of him. He’s a decent finisher and passer. Unless he improves his defense, however, there’s the chance Nori will eventually be forced to call upon Potter or Carlson.
He’s simply not very good in drop coverage, the exact kind Nori wants to employ defensively against screens. He’s slow and not yet equipped with the situational awareness of when he should camp in the paint or press up. He left Horford open many times and was exposed on the perimeter on switches.
Hansen is taking strides, according to Williams. He’s encouraged Hansen to remain vocal and decisive in his communication, and to not be deterred by mistakes. One can learn from their errors, but not so much from inaction.
“It’s on us to lead the guards defensively, so whatever you call they gotta honor it,” Williams said. “So just telling him, like, even if you indecisive, if you say something, even if you mess it up, mean it. You know what I’m saying? … (He's) getting great at walling up, not swiping down (and) contesting.”
Offensive fun
Let’s wash down some bad basketball with good basketball. I don’t have much to say here besides that I enjoyed the action. The first clip in which Clingan feeds Avdija cutting backdoor (and is fouled) was the second time Portland ran that sequence.
It happened in the first quarter, too, early on, although it was in a half-court set and not off an inbound. That time Clingan kept the rock and passed to a Lillard who also approached Avdija as though to set a screen. It didn’t really go anywhere, as Lillard decided not to feed a relatively uncovered and rolling Clingan, opting to swing to Camara on the opposite slot.
The second clip is beautiful to watch, simple and effective half-court offense. Lillard and Sidy Cissoko do a little dance setting picks and miscommunication amongst the Warriors results in a Portland slam.
More of that, please.
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